Can you help motivate me?

[lunar1]

Ds1 is desperate for an Xbox one, all his friends have one. I can't afford m it and it's over our Christmas budget anyway. He never asks for anything, he's hard working and never makes a fuss if he can't have something.

I'm rubbish at eBay but I'm sure if I got my act together I can get enough money to buy him one.

Firstly I'm confused about what exactly I would need to buy and how much it would cost. The games he would like are minecraft and skylanders. Anyone know what I would need to buy and the best prices?

I'm hoping if I list 1-2 thinks a day I can get enough money together before Christmas! Please give me a good kick

Argh, posted too soon. Give me a good kick and remind me it will be worth it to declutter and get the money together!

I know nothing about Xbox but u sound fab!

Could u do a carboot? To get yourself going?

eBay is effort but treat it like a job, not personal and keep at it.

I recommend reading chicken soup for the Xmas soul for motivation!! Buy 2nd Hand off amazon, nice and cheap.

Good luck. At least he doesn't want a mr frosty!!

Thank you. I've made a start, 4 items on eBay tonight. I need to remember to make enough to cover the fees too. Anyone else got a big item to save for? I'll definitely be looking at second hand.

I'd try selling on your local Facebook sales pages first before ebay as there are no selling fees and people pay cash on collection thus saving you on paypal fees too.

I do a lot of eBaying. I try to use my free listings each month as a minimum. If I didn't we couldn't have treats. We're lucky DH's wage and my carers allowance (DS1 is Autistic) covers the food bills and a roof over our heads, anything else needs to come from raising the cash. The kids are heavily involved in sorting and decluttering, they're better than me.

I keep a scrap of paper list of things I could eBay then check out the potential values and go with those that sell for most.

I'm a fan of buy it now or best offer listings and let eBay advise on sales price (it does it within the listing process). I think that you get a little more this way.

I'm putting money away for the holidays at the moment and the childrens rooms are stuffed to overflowing so I feel a big start of holidays clear out to give them each some holiday money.

I know this sounds terrible but I don't really want to be paid cash, I'd end up spending it! I've got a couple of bids and lots of watchers.

I know what you mean about listing higher priced things first but I keep doing that and don't get round to selling the smaller things. So I've got loads of small thing that I have to get rid of. I'm going to try and mix it up with 5 small things to one bigger one.

My first items are posted and I've got a PayPal balance of £38 and there will be some fees to come off that but I've probably got almost 10% of what I need. I think everything is going to cost just over £300. Got more things finishing tomorrow and have photographed another 5 to put on tonight. I'm hoping once I've got the money together I'll find some amazing Xbox deal!

I asked my husband if he knew of any ways to get an XBox One cheaper and he said look at phone contracts, if you were looking at changing your phone contract any way they sometimes give things like that as a free gift with certain contracts.

Good luck with your eBaying.

Don't forget to look at gumtree as well for deals round Christmas .

If you haven't already then download the hotukdeals app and set up a notification for Xbox one, skylanders, Minecraft ect. This app shows all deals everywhere posted in by other users so if somewhere is doing a good deal on an Xbox it would be posted up and you will instantly be notified. Same for any games etc
You could also sell things on gumtree. Good luck!

If you every buy anything online always go through topcashback or quid co. You get cashback with loads of shops and can get it paid back into your PayPal account. If you need a new insurance policy or home phone line or things you can get quite a chunk of money at a time. For a while there was about £80 cashback for switching your current account to nationwide, which wouldn't cost you anything.

You may be able to build up your funds a little that way too.

Would he be happy with a 360? They are a lot cheaper and as far as I know they are pretty much the same but with a couple of features not there.

We have one and my 12yo is very happy with it.

What about the sites Gumtree or Preloved???? They sell second hand goods. A lot of the time it is collection only but if you put in your postcode it will give you a list of any available in your area. Gosh when I was a kid there were no Xboxes!!!! I would get one toy, perhaps a Tiny Tears and then there was a chocolate selection box and some nuts and an orange in a sock!!!! Those were the good old days!! :) :)